James Randi, Magician and Paranormal Debunker, Dies at 92

I have grown up hearing this man all my life. He was the first one to show me how great magic could be and how anything 'supernatural' was a hoax. To this day I have never found him to be wrong about any of it. As much as I want there to be a Yeti or Chupacabra, there is not one, or ghosts, or werewolves or aliens from other planets. With out solid proof I don't even believe that GOD exists. So thank you James Randi for making me into a mush more observant and sceptical human being. I wish more people could be that logical and rationale these days.

Rest in Reason, my Brother.

Randi, born Randall Zwinge, got his start as a magician and escape artist, fleeing jail cells or safes and even emerging from a coffin on the "Today" show in 1956. He would later host his own television show from 1967 to 1968. In the '70s, he performed a special for Canadian TV in which he escaped from a straitjacket while suspended upside down over Niagara Falls.

Randi even helped spice up the theatricality of rock star Alice Cooper, advising on the creation of the guillotine stage prop Cooper used and touring with him in the '70s. And throughout his career as a magician, he became a regular guest on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" and on the children's television show "Wonderama." 

By age 60, Randi had retired from magic and was one of the co-founders of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, or CSI. The committee responded to a rise of interest in the paranormal in the '70s and promoted scientific inquiry and critical thinking in the investigation of extraordinary or controversial claims.